> News > State — Resistant staph infections up in Santa Clara County Yuk! This is the creepiest new disease since the flesh-eating bacteria (also a staph). Eeeeh.
SAN JOSE — A troubling bacteria resistant to antibiotics that can cause skin boils and blood poisoning is on the rise in Santa Clara County.
If numbers continue to increase as they have over the last three months, infections would be up 74 percent over last year, according to officials.
The bacteria is known as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. It’s a variant of the staph bacteria common in hospitals and nursing homes.
MRSA infections can appear as skin lesions or boils, and in serious cases can cause blood poisoning
Apparently you can get baseball size boils all over you! Agh.
See also
Linkname: CBC News: 1950s superbug re-emerges as ‘souped-up’ MRSA
URL:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/04/01/MRSA-genes0
50401.html
and an ongoing controversy in England on hospital hygiene and
“self-hygiene” practice by visiting members of the public.
Hey Hank,
Be careful using topical antibiotics. Like any antibiotic, germs eventually develop a defense against it and the infections will come back worse than before.
Cat scratch fever is going around too!
http://www.dixpix.net/images/smilin%20cat.jpg
Don’t laugh — I actually caught this infection myself after a dermatologist gave me laser treatment to remove moles on my face. The bacteria must have lodged in the open wound where the mole was removed…a mysterious lump the size of a golf ball rose under my skin. It required the services of a plastic surgeon to lance the cyst and drain it, and a week of potent antibiotics to kill the bacterial infection. How I got this is a mystery — but I suspect it came from using one of the stinky communal yoga mats in my yoga class. Lesson learned–keep your towels and mats clean each time you go to your health club. This is aparently an outbreak all over the US according to the CDC. Luckily, my infection responded to the antibiotics and I’m ok now–but it left an ugly scar.